Hi Guys, I'm not sure where to post this thread. There is not a Malaysia section on the Languages and Culture board. Does anyone have any advice on the best way to pick up a bit of basic Malay. Internet sites etc? Enough for a basic holidaying would be nice. e.g. "I'd like to buy one of these please". "Where is the nearest toilet" etc.
The absolute best way to learn Malay is to spend some serious time in Malaysia. Really you need to be speaking the language every day to really get your head around it and make use of it. If you had to get up and get things done like get to the market, get to the bank and figure out how to ship certain items back home or get across town or ask a girl out for a dinner... you'd pick it up fairly quickly. Barring that... a simple basic Malay phrase book will cover what you want. Lonely planet makes one... there are dozens of others out there. But in my experience most of these types of books are pretty useless... you spend more time thumbing through them to get out basic phrases than anything else. Which means you aren't watching body language and visual cues from the locals. What's more is you like most people probably don't spend enough using the pronunciation systems in the book to be able to use them readily. Better to carry a pen and a note pad and scribble down the phrases you hear that you want... in whatever mish mash of phonetics you can remember. If you're not married... move to Malaysia for an extended holiday and get a live in dictionary. It's the time test way to learn another language.
Yep, most of those phrasebooks are full of phrases you will never use and pronounce wrong anyway. I would advise learning lots of useful words and then letting the grammar fall into place. Most phrasebooks usually go to great lengths to confuse the reader with grammatical rules. They put you off before you start. Lots of useful words, a few verbs and some politeness will work wonders. People will appreciate the effort and kindly correct you......or fall about in hysterics if you call an egg a testicle!
Book and CD course "Colloquial Malay" by Zaharah Othman and Atmosumarto ISBN for the course with audio tape: 0-415-11014-9 but who uses tape these days? Malay In 3 Weeks by Johyn Parry and Sahari bin Sulaiman ISBN 981-204-169-9 The former will sort out your pronounciation as long as you give good attention with your ears. The latter has useful everyday prhases.
The problem is that if you try to speak proper Malay in West Malaysia, people don't listen to you because you're an outsider. You either have to speak English which most people understand here (mandatory in school), or you have to speak loudly in single words: Baya (pay, buy) Satu (one, 1) Tandas (toilet)
I travelled around Indonesia and Malaysia for quite some time when I was younger. I have to say, I found Bahasa is one of the easiest languages to pick up. Saying that, I have forgotten most of what I learned now but at least it's not tonal. Best of luck.
Malay Any of the Malay dialects are great. Love the way words are put together, puzzling sometimes. But to bring it back to martial arts: Names of techniques with many silat styles are simply descriptive. Very usefull cos all you have to learn for that is the names of body parts and movement and direction.
"I'd like to buy one of these please". Saya mahu beli satu daripada ini. Terima kasih. "Where is the nearest toilet". Di mana letaknya tandas terdekat? Lol, my malay is bad. I guess you should buy a phrase book. You don't need to worry, there are a lot of malaysian that can speak english. It is a former british colony.
I actually learnt a little of Bahasha Sarawak when I was at college just by chatting online with people from Sarawak. It was really easy to pick up, so don't be afraid to try books and CD's, I think they might give you decent basics. You should definitely practive it a bit, though. An option would be to find someone who knows the language maybe in this forum or somewhere else and use MSN or Google Talk or smoething similr to try and parctice some words and simple sentences. You could even try speaking a bit if you have a microphone! I'd help you myself, but the only words I remember are greetings and swear words... Apa khabar - How are you / How is it going? Khabar baik - I'm fine / It's all good Salam - Peace (greeting). I think the long, formal greeting for muslims was Waalaikum salam warah matullah <name> That and some curse words I won't post.
I'm a Malay from Malaysia, in Kuala Lumpur! Just got on the boards here btw, so hi everyone... Ok, ask me anything... Btw... "Tandas kat mana?" = Where is the Toilet? "Saya nak beli yang ini."= I'd like to buy one of these please. This is more of the spoken Bahasa Malaysia (Malay Language) translation. Hope I can be of some help...
